More promises on climate change

I did it. I joined an online protest to advocate mitigating the drastic climate changes that are causing environmental mayhem and loss of life in all the kingdoms of life on earth.

Joining mass protests is not something I often do, because one needs to be vigilant about being manipulated, but this time it is different. I’ve become part of a movement of 65 million people internationally who have joined the voices of young people calling for change at the top, ie among the current political leaders whose decisions, or lack of them, will determine how we survive on earth in generations to come.

In case anyone missed it, last Sunday was the start of 12 very important days in our lives.

COP26, the 2021 UN world climate summit, hosted by the UK in Scotland, has brought together leaders from almost every country. It is the 26th UN annual Conference of the Parties (COP), and this year the leaders know they have to do more than make promises. Even Chinese leader Xi Jinping realised that as the biggest polluter he had to beam in his participation, although not physically present and offering nothing.

It has taken a long time for the many sceptics to accept the inconvenient reality of climate change, but now that almost every nation is being affected by erratic weather patterns that erode economies and steal lives, not believing and not acting have become luxuries few can afford.

Events in Glasgow are encouraging, although much is still at the level of pledges. Even Brazil, under its egregiously dismissive and irresponsible current president, has signed up to stopping and reversing deforestation by 2030.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who was criticised for his recent short space sojourn, has pledged US$2 billion to restore landscapes and transform food systems and will spend another US$8 billion on other save-the-planet projects. Being outside Earth’s atmosphere, looking in, made him realise the extent of the planet’s vulnerability, he says. It’s an expensive, belated insight – Amazon staff had been complaining about the company’s negative environmental policies – but it carries weight and lends a lot to the push to extract reluctant commitments from governments and others.

Tesla founder Elon Musk, currently the world’s richest man, has already committed US$100 million to funding inventions that will remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and oceans.

Leaders are finding it difficult to withstand the growing power of the young climate warriors such as teenager Greta Thunberg, who has inspired other young people to take the fight to the people she berates, with huge effect. In Scotland, she accused world leaders of pretending to change the status quo and threw down the gauntlet, challenging them to actually get carbon emissions down by the 1.5 degrees Celsius they promised in Paris, in 2015.

The creation of a youth-led arm of the UN project on climate change was a good move that has harnessed young voices which are growing louder and more powerful. There have now been 16 young people’s climate conferences (COY), and this year’s provided a focal point for dissent and effective holding to account before world leaders took the stage. COY prepares young people for able participation at the conferences and enables them also to become international climate advocates to influence decision-making.

Seeing is believing, and the images of the melting icebergs of the North Pole, where polar bears face possible extinction, was a pivotal moment for me. Amazingly, there is talk of saving them by moving the bears to the South Pole (Antarctica), which supports little animal life apart from coastal seals and penguins. But the change of poles will not in fact rescue the bears, because before too long the penguins and seals, which have no instincts against surface predators, since they are part of the food chain for underwater forms of life, would be in short supply. Scientists are warning, therefore, that the penguins and seals could be totally eradicated by the bears, which will then become extinct too, after having killed off two other species.

Of course, life and death are not that simple and if there were enough time, the bears might find some way of surviving, but the desperation is palpable.

Thunberg’s challenge was echoed by Barbadian PM Mia Mottley, who, with oratorical flair, defined the bottom line in her popular speech. She told the world, in no uncertain terms, that 1.5 degrees is the minimum reduction; two degrees is a death sentence for small island developing states (SIDS) such as ours.

People appreciated her boldness and plain talking but, really, we too must play our small part. We are unrepentant climate vagabonds.

Barbados has an acute water challenge but citizens seem oblivious to conserving water, and here in TT we have an energy economy which is harmful to the environment. Our governments do little or nothing about investing in recycling, for example, and making us, by force, responsible citizens.

Thunberg is right, it is also up to us to be individual leaders at home, along with getting our voices heard globally.